One Week
by RizaMustang24
Summary: It takes years to get to where you want to go, but it can crash with just one incident. It takes 6 friends to repair it and... one week? No way...
1. Worst Day Ever

"Today is..."

"...our day."

The brown haired girl with the huge eyes groaned, as another day was about to begin, and so far nothing had happened. Although most would take this as a good omen, dear Haruhi knew better, and this meant that the rest of the day was going to be eternal hell.

"Okay?"

"Fine," Haruhi gave up to the two boys who were leaning onto her desk. For some reason, today her male uniform was a little tight. "Alright, it's your day. Just don't mess with me please."

The one to her right smiled.

"But Haruhi," The one to the left started.

"It's our day," The right one cooed as he scooted his chair closer to Haruhi.

"I know that, Kaoru," Haruhi scowled. "But please, I come to school to learn, so please let me be."

Kaoru huffed and the left one slouched back into his chair.

"Book Worm," The left one sighed.

"I am not a book worm, Hikaru!" Haruhi snapped. "Now stop acting like you're depressed."

"But we're your friends," The twins giggled as they walked their fingers up the shoulder of hers that was closest to them. Their hands stopped at her neck and they both came in and rested their heads on her shoulders. "Friends do stuff for friends."

"Oh mother in heaven," Haruhi whined. "What have I gotten myself into?"


	2. Hitachiin Day

**Day 1: Hitachiin Day**

"Oi! Haruhi," Kaoru snapped as he pulled on the girl's wig.

"Uh!" Hikaru gasped at looking at her, his hands on his mouth in mock surprise. "You can't wear that!"

"Oi, but you guys, it looks fine," Haruhi whimpered, knowing that she had to do what they said. She promised that she'd do what they wanted for the day, and she was starting to regret ever walking into the Third Music Room. "I like it the way it is."

"It's fine for a pauper," Hikaru scowled.

"More wealth bashes," Haruhi murmured.

"You'll look beautiful in this dress, Haruhi!" Kaoru chimed as he pulled over an elegant pink dress.

"Ooh! With a bow in the wig..." Hikaru thought.

Kaoru nodded.

"She'd be perfect!"

"Oi..." Haruhi sighed. "How come you aren't telling me what this all about?"

Kaoru frowned while Hikaru grabbed his hand and the two faked tears.

"Well, Haruhi..." Hikaru wiped a tear.

"The truth is that," Kaoru continued.

"Kaoru has a huge crush on you," Hikaru sobbed.

The younger in question suddenly scowled and pushed Hikaru away, a light blush on his face.

"I do not!" Kaoru protested.

"...and he's always had the dream of dancing with you," Hikaru ignored Kaoru. "And he wants me to dance with him too, because secretly, he's had a huge crush on me for his whole life."

"Hikaru..." Kaoru hissed. "Knock it off."

"Denial!"

"You're acting like Milord!"

"Oh am I?" Hikaru smirked mischieviously. "Why are you defending yourself with a blush so deep?"

"P-pervert!" Kaoru snapped, pushing Hikaru.

"Me? A pervert? Oh no, you must be mistaken..."

"Stop," Haruhi sighed. "My head hurts enough! I'll dance with both of you, and if you guys really want to that much, you can dance with eachother."

"Oh thank you, Haruhi!" Hikaru chimed and tried to hug the befuddled girl.

Kaoru stood still, his arms folded, and looked at the two. Annoyed, he whispered to himself, "I do not like her."

Hikaru stopped glomping Haruhi and turned around to look at his younger twin.

"Oi? Kaoru?" Hikaru questioned. "C'mon, Milord will be in his next classes soon."

Kaoru shook his head and walked slowly over, muttering a, "Right."

**10 minutes, a dress, and a wig later...**

"Ready!" The female twins called to the Hitachiin twins whom were all over eachother again.

"A moment!" Kaoru called, trying to seem distracted in his tone.

"Oh... Kaoru..." Hikaru moaned, pretending to be embarassed. "I think we should go see Haruhi now..."

"But Hikaru... I'm enjoying this _so _much," Kaoru cooed as he leaned in closer to his brother.

"Shut up, I know you're faking," Haruhi called.

The twins shrugged. "So much for that."

Throwing the big doors open, the two immediatly became giddy at the sight of the adorable girl with the flustered face.

"I don't know... what if someone recognizes me?" Haruhi muttered.

"Say you're Cosplaying!" Kaoru quickly replied, looking her over for any mistakes.

"Oi, you pervert," Hikaru scolded. "I think these two know what they're doing."

"Yes, Kaoru," Haruhi blushed lightly. "I don't think you looking me over is necessary."

Kaoru stopped and replied in a smooth, sly tone, "Maybe I wanna look you over?"

"That's my brother!" Hikaru giggled.

"Not funny!" Haruhi replied, irritated. "Let's just get this over with, please."

"Aha, gomen, gomen," Kaoru laughed, getting up off of the ground and taking Haruhi's hand in his. His face became suddenly serious. "Oh Haruhi, how I've dreamed of dancing with you since the day I first laid eyes on yo-"

"Ew," Haruhi interrupted. "You wanted to dance with me back when you thought I was a boy?"

"Ah!" Hikaru laughed, his hands on his stomach. "I never knew how you felt, Kaoru!"

"I-I-!" Kaoru blushed, backing away. "No! I mean-!"

Haruhi frowned.

"So... the Host Club is just an act?"

"N-NO!" Kaoru gasped, covering his mouth, his face becoming red. "That's not-! I mean-!"

Hikaru tried to breath. "No! It's not an act! He really feels that way about me, and he's probably Hosting in hopes of guys!"

Kaoru shook his head furiously. "No!"

"Kao-chan! Is that true?" Came a high pitch voice.

Kaoru turned to face the little blonde boy and the tall silent man. His face became redder.

"Hunny-sempai! It's not like that!" Kaoru protested. "Not at all!"

"Do you like Milord too?" Hikaru huffed.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru snapped, turning on his heel. "I'll kill you!"

"Not if I die of laughter first!" Hikaru giggled, his face red and his chest in pain. He was bent over and his hand was on his mouth while the other was on his stomach, and his breathing was labored.

"This is Host material?" Haruhi asked herself. "I must be doing a horrible job then."

"Haru-chan?" The little boy exclaimed at the sight of the girl. "Is that you?"

"Oh! Hunny-sempai!" Haruhi acknowledged and she walked over to Hunny and the tall man. "Ah, hello Mori-senpai."

"Hi," Mori nodded.

"Haru-chan pretty!" Hunny chimed as he poked Haruhi's dress. "Haru-chan VERY pretty!"

"Get away!" The twins shouted as they dashed over to Haruhi. "She's ours!"

"Since when?" Came a stern voice.

"Ehhh?" Kaoru asked as he turned his head, his body stilled by the chill the voice gave him.

"Since when was Haruhi yours?" Asked a boy with glasses and black hair. "I just never knew that."

"Ah ha! Kyoya-senpai!" Hikaru laughed as he scooted over to Haruhi. "We were... I mean..."

"Haruhi's ours for the day," Kaoru explained. "She agreed to it."

"Is this true, Haruhi?" Kyoya asked, his cold gaze wandering to the brown haired girl in the elegant dress.

She shivered. "H-hai, Kyoya-senpai."

"I see," Kyoya nodded. "Then you may continue your silly shenanigans."

Kaoru's and Hikaru's shoulders laid easy again as they turned around and the two grabbed her and began to dance. Surprisingly, it worked! Even though Haruhi accidentally stepped on Kaoru's foot every once in awhile.

Haruhi smiled.

"You know, we've only ever danced like this once before."

"Hmm? When?" Kaoru asked.

"Halloween," Haruhi replied as their steps became smooth.

"Oh yeah..." Kaoru nodded, and the two seemed to completely forget that Hikaru or anyone else was there.

"My daughter!" The blonde man screamed every once in awhile, but Hikaru had snuck away from the two and was keeping him quiet. The blonde Frenchman had snuck in while the three were dancing.

"Shut up, Milord!" Hikaru hissed. "Let them dance!"

"You unscrupulous-" He started again.

"Shh."

"Tamaki," Kyoya scolded. "Keep your voice down."

Hunny and Mori now stood next to the group and watched Haruhi and Kaoru dance. The two seemed to be lost in eachother, which was a rare occasion. Tamaki frowned and he finally calmed down a bit, so that he wouldn't disturb Haruhi, and he looked at Hikaru. "Was this your major plan for the day that you two were droning on about for the past week?"

A smile spread across Hikaru's face and he nodded. Hikaru sat down against the wall and stared at them, following every move.

"Look at them..." He whispered.

"Is something bothering you?" Kyoya asked.

Hikaru didn't reply, only continued to watch the two as they glided across the floor, never stepping on the others foot once.

"Hika-chan?" Hunny asked as he sat infront of Hikaru. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah..." Hikaru whispered. "Nothing's wrong."

Finally relaxed, Haruhi laid her head down on Kaoru's shoulder, and Kaoru wrapped his arms around her as the two danced. Something hit Tamaki, and he knew he couldn't be quiet any longer.

He screeched, "Get off my daughter!"

Shocked and embarassed, Kaoru and Haruhi pushed eachother away.

"Oh, gomen," Haruhi apologized.

"It was my fault," Kaoru apologized right back. "I'm really sorry, Haruhi."

"It's okay..."

"Mm? Where's Hikaru?" Kaoru finally realized and he looked around for his brother. He smiled and walked up to him. "You promised me a dance."

Hikaru put his hand in Kaoru's solemnly, and the younger helped his brother up, but Hikaru wouldn't look Kaoru.

"Maybe later."

Kaoru frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but Tamaki cut him off.

"You're always dragging my daughter into these types of things, you naughty twins! Who knows what you would've done if we hadn't arrived to save her!"

Rambling and irritated, they all left the room to get to their classes, for they probably already were going to be late. Luckily it was the third years lunchtime, and Kyoya and Tamaki could get themselves out of trouble easily. The twins and Haruhi seemingly had no excuse though, so Haruhi was rushing to class in hopes of persuading the teacher into believing that the Hitachiin twins had forced her out of class. Unknown to her was that the twins had already informed the teacher that they'd be absent for awhile.

"You okay?" Kaoru asked Hikaru once they were alone.

"Fine," Hikaru replied, walking away from Kaoru. "We should get back to class."

"Are you sick?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't look okay..."

"I'm FINE!" Hikaru snapped.

Kaoru cowered a bit and looked away. He nodded and started walking out of the room, but he stoppped at the door.

"We should get to class."

Hikaru nodded, but didn't move.

The younger brother sighed and walked out of the room, leaving his big brother in peace.

"I just wanted Kaoru to have a moment with someone for once," Hikaru told himself as he walked around in the big room, alone. "He's always looking out for me, like he's the older brother. The only thing is though, when I saw him dancing with her, and the way he looked at her..."

Hikaru stopped and itched his hand.

"I don't think I'm ready for him to grow up," Hikaru admitted.

"Hikaru," Came Kaoru's voice, and Hikaru whiped around to see the boy walking into the room. "We really should get to class."

The elder nodded.

"Right."

As the two walked down the hallway, Kaoru tried to keep himself from yelping in pain at Hikaru's tight grip.

"Daijoubu?" Kaoru asked, finally entranced by the painful grip.

Hikaru blinked and nodded. "Hai."

"Umm, Hikaru? Sorry to say this, but I need my hand, and you're kinda cutting off my circulation," Kaoru finally told him.

Hikaru blushed and his grip loosened.

"Gomennasai, Kaoru," Hikaru apologized.

"No worries."

The two sat and waited at their next class's door, leaning against the wall together.

"You left me back there," Kaoru noted.

"Yeah, to stop Milord from going balistic," Hikaru chuckled.

The two were quiet again, until Kaoru spoke up again, "You let me dance with Haruhi all by myself? How unselfish of you."

"You know me."

"Are you sure you're okay, Hikaru?" Kaoru nudged.

"Just... fine."

Kaoru couldn't help but feel that Hikaru was mad at him, and as the two sat in the unnerving silence, they caught a glimpse of Haruhi. Seeing her form, the two shot up together, and dashed off to where they thought she went.

"Haruhi," They heard the Chairman's voice say as they stood outside of his office. "Are you aware that your father got into an accident?"

"What happened to dad?" Came Haruhi's calm, yet worried voice.

"It's only a minor injury, but he'll be in the hospital for awhile. Now, the real problem is how you're going to afford buying your food, or getting your food."

"I-I can live off of what we got."

"Haruhi, I said that he'll be in the hospital for _awhile._ The district has requested me to pull you from your classes, and you to get a job. Of course, missing so much school will surely affect your grade, and the terms are tomorrow, and you know that you have to be at the top. Do you understand what I'm saying Haruhi?" Tamaki's dad continued.

"Yes, and I will get a job, but I will also be passing those terms," Haruhi replied.

"If you don't, I'm sorry, but you can't make it up."

"I... I know that Sir."

"Then I honestly wish you the best of luck," The man sounded sad. "It is my job after all, even though I hate to do this to you."

"Arigatou."

"You hear that?" Kaoru gasped.

"That can't be true," Hikaru countered. "It must be a joke."

"It's not."

The two backed up as Haruhi walked out and past them, not even giving them a glance.

"Haruhi," The two choked.

"She's too proud of herself," The chairman sighed as he walked out of his office. "She didn't even ask for help."

"She wants to be a lawyer that bad?" Kaoru asked, amazed.

"Lawyer?" Hikaru and the chairman asked right back.

"Ugh, nevermind."

The two boys and the man watched the girl as she walked back to her classroom, now fully dressed in the male uniform.

"Poor Haruhi," The twins sighed.

Club Hours

"Haruhi!" Tamaki sobbed as he ran to the girl whom was sitting down on one of the couches. "I heard! I heard! I heard! My poor daughter!"

"Get off me Senpai," Haruhi scolded."You'll suffocate me."

"But Daddy wants to help!"

"My daddy's not here," Haruhi snapped. "Stop acting like my father, Tamaki-senpai. One father is troublesome enough."

"Uhh... Haruhi..."

"Yo!" Came the greeting of the 'evil' twins. "What's up, Haruhi?"

"How can you talk to her like that?" Tamaki growled. "I can't believe you two!"

Haruhi stared on at them all.

"Tamaki, don't kill the twins," Kyoya scolded.

Tamaki looked ashamed. "Kill them? By God! They'll kill me!"

"Hehe, Milord's afraid of cats?" The twins chimed.

"What? No I'm not! Since when?"

"We're kitties."

"Evil kitties."

"Doesn't matter," They giggled. "We're kitties."

"Nekozawa's kitties!" Tamaki laughed at them.

"So? That means you're cursed if you're mean to us."

"AHH!!! MOM!" Tamaki cried, jumping onto Kyoya.

"People are staring," Kyoya growled at the sudden glomp. "Now get off of me."

"But mommy!"

"OFF!"

Without further notice, Tamaki got off Kyoya and started going through mood swings, and all the girls were trying to comfort him.

"It's okay, Tamaki-kun, Kyoya-kun's probably just having a bad day is all."

"Ohh, don't cry!"

"Tamaki-kun! I'm here for you!"

"Tamaki-kun!"

"We're here!"

"Haha, they're here, but where's Milord?" Hikaru teased. "Probably off in his dream world again thinking about Haruhi."

Their gaze wandered to Haruhi and lingered on her.

"Keep me out of it," She huffed.

Kaoru walked over to her and sat down next to her, himself staring at his feet.

"Haruhi, I know what it's like," He whispered. "Sort of."

"Right, like you know anything about it. Besides, it's not that big of a deal, I'm not going to get kicked out of Ouran, I promise."

Kaoru ignored her. "It takes years to create, and just one thing can tear it apart. Don't worry Haruhi, we're going to fix yours. I won't let it crumble."

"Let it crumble?" Hikaru and Haruhi murmured. "What are you talking about Kaoru?"

"You're staying at Ouran," Kaoru declared to her. "I swear on Hikaru's soul."

"Hey!" Hikaru snapped. "That's not fair!"

Haruhi smiled sadly. "Then I believe you Kaoru. After all, if you swear on Hikaru's soul, I know you have to keep true to your word."

Hikaru blinked and looked between the two. "Huh? That makes no sense. Why would my soul be above Kaoru's? I don't get it."

"Take it as a compliment," Haruhi giggled.

Kaoru stood up and kissed Hikaru's cheek and smiled.

"Yes, take it as a compliment," Kaoru whispered before he walked to get his customers from Tamaki.

Hikaru placed his hand on his cheek.

"I'm still not used to that," Hikaru whispered.

Haruhi smiled and stood up.

"Come on, let's go before Kyoya-senpai takes off our heads!" Haruhi giggled.

"You're right," Hikaru sighed.

"This still doesn't make me feel good," Kyoya sighed, writing in his notebook. "How cruel, everyone dislikes me."

"I don't dislike you Kyo-chan!" Hunny chimed as he walked up to Kyoya.

For the first time in awhile, Kyoya smiled.

"Thank you, Hunny-sempai."

"Hehe!"

Hunny bounded off with Mori, and he began shuffling down his cakes again, and his cuteness attracted all his customers back. Tamaki was with own customers again and everything was on schedule, even Haruhi was pleasing her customers as usual, but something in the air didn't seem quite right...

It takes many years to create...

The twins were also pleasing their customers, without their usual brotherly love scheme going.

"Is something wrong, Kaoru?" A red haired girl asked.

"Hmm? No, nothing's wrong with me," Kaoru replied and looked at Hikaru.

"Oh," She blushed. "Oops, I meant to ask Hikaru then!"

She was a new customer, a third year. Kyoya knew everything about the Host Club.

"Is something wrong Hikaru?" Kaoru asked, his hand tighter around Hikaru's.

"Hmm?" Hikaru asked, paying attention again.

"Daijoubu?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, Kaoru..." Hikaru replied, a little off in space, and he rested his head on Kaoru's shoulder, completely forgetting the customers, even with their squeals. Kaoru wrapped his arm around his brother, his other still in Hikaru's hand. "I'm okay now."

...but only SECONDS to destroy.


	3. Can't Sleep Twins

"Kaoru?" Haruhi asked as she stood in a dress, her face all prettied up with slight amounts of make-up. "Do you think I look pretty?"

"Oh! Haruhi!" Kaoru gasped as he dashed to her side, leaving Hikaru alone and watching. "You didn't have to wear a dress! Won't everyone know you're a girl now?"

Haruhi blushed and looked away for a moment.

"I wanted them to know I was a girl so I could spend time..." She started. "...with you."

Kaoru's face became flushed and he smiled. Then he kissed her on the cheek, and they walked off to class, leaving Hikaru all alone. There was a feeling of regret churning inside of Hikaru, and the boy began wishing that Kaoru had never met Haruhi, for Hikaru liked Haruhi. It bugged him, to see him walking with the girl he liked. Every once in awhile, Kaoru would give her a peck on the cheek, but just seeing that made Hikaru fume even more. This was Hikaru's little brother, and Kaoru couldn't have Haruhi. Of course, Hikaru would still love his little brother no matter what.

"Hey, Kaoru," Hikaru scolded. "You've been ignoring me for awhile now... Kaoru?"

The boy didn't even notice his elder talking to him. This action made Hikaru angrier, but he also felt depressed that Kaoru didn't even notice him.

"Kaoru, I'm sick of this, stop ignoring me!" Hikaru hissed at his brother.

"Oh, it's you," Kaoru finally responded, turning around. "Look, you can be as mad at me as you want, but I'm still going out with her, got it? It doesn't matter what you say to me, because she's the most important thing to me now. You. Don't. Matter."

Hikaru blinked. Was this even possible?

"E-excuse me?" Hikaru gulped.

"You. Don't. Matter."

"Kaoru!" Hikaru shouted as he tried to grab his brother's shoulder.

"Hikaru?" Kaoru asked, irritated as the two were suddenly in bed.

"Kaoru..." Hikaru sobbed. "Do I matter?"

Kaoru blinked and laughed. "Of course you matter silly. Did you have a bad dream again?"

The older brother blushed and sat up, looking away from his little brother and he felt ashamed of himself. He still wasn't even sure if he was dreaming or not, it all seemed so real. Kaoru kissing her on the cheek, Haruhi in her beautiful dress...

"Hikaru? Are you alright?" Kaoru whispered.

Hikaru didn't answer, he only sat on the edge of the bed.

"Are you feeling sick?" The younger worried again.

"Nah," Hikaru sighed. "I must've ate something bad last night."

"Want me to sleep with you?" Kaoru asked in a sarcastic, yet serious tone.

The elder just laid down on his futon again and started falling back to sleep, and the younger crawled into the older's futon and they started falling asleep.

"I love you, Hikaru," Kaoru finally whispered.

"I love you too," Hikaru sighed.

"And you'll always matter to me."

Hikaru didn't have another nightmare that night.


	4. Can't Sleep Haruhi

Tomorrow was the exams, and Haruhi couldn't sleep.

This wasn't like her, to be worrying over something so much. It was just, sitting at the table, eating dinner alone... it hurt. Haruhi wanted her dad back. It was one thing when her dad was working late or something like that, it was another when he was hurt. She didn't feel bad when he missed her things, because she knew he was working. Now he missed things because he was hurt. She'd never admit to anyone though that she was worrying. Nope, Haruhi just wasn't that kind of person.

"Mom," Haruhi sighed as she sat infront of her mother's picture. "Dad's hurt. He's in the hospital, and I'm trying so hard to stay at Ouran and become a lawyer, but it's really hard right now. I can't sleep, and I'm worrying the whole Host Club."

She sighed and looked at her mom's picture, feeling like crying.

"You believe I can do it, don't you mom?" Haruhi sighed.

Then she stood up and started walking to her room, but before she entered she turned to look back at her mother's spot.

"I miss you."

Sitting on her bed, for some reason, Haruhi wanted her dad, but she also wanted the Host Club. There was something about them that made her calm and collected. Maybe it was Tamaki going loco, or the twins being little devils, or Hunny's cuteness... or something.

"I can't wait for tomorrow," Haruhi sighed. "When I can see those guys again."

Haruhi wanted to be with them, with the six crazy boys.

It was the first time Haruhi thought they were like a blessing.


	5. Wrong

**A/N: Spoilers for Chapter 52**

** Day 2: The Exams **

"Haruhi!" Tamaki cried as he glomped Haruhi. Today she came into the Host Club before school, because for some odd reason, she wanted to see the freaks. Not all of them are freaks, but they were all freaky in some aspect.

"Haru-chan!" Hunny sobbed as he dashed to Haruhi and hugged her leg. "Haru-chan! I missed you!"

"Missed me?" Haruhi sighed in confusion. Why would they miss her? She was only gone for a night, like she always is after school is over.

"We all missed you!" Tamaki answered. "We all missed this wonderful daughter of mine, didn't we?"

For some reason, all of the members were in the music room. It's not like it was uncommon to see them all in that room, but before school, everyone was usually in their classes, or they were a little late to the music room. Today it was early. Haruhi came in about an hour early to study and then see the guys when they came. Only, they were already there. Perhaps they did miss her, or they were having a discussion early in the morning. Whatever the reason, it surprised Haruhi. What surprised her even more, was to see Kyoya awake so early.

Said boy walked up to Haruhi and replied, "I didn't miss you."

Haruhi blushed a bit and tried to push Tamaki off her; she wasn't even going to comment on how that made her feel. It's not like Haruhi expected Kyoya to care, but she wasn't expecting him to come straight to her face and say something that harsh to her... or rather, she was expecting it.

Everyone was hovering over Haruhi except for the two you'd most expect to be on her first, Kaoru and Hikaru.

"Good morning Haruhi," Finally came Hikaru's voice.

Upon seeing the elder without the younger, Haruhi felt compelled to ask, "Where's Kaoru?"

His smile slowly turned to a frown.

"He couldn't sleep last night," Hikaru explained. "He's taking a nap right now."

"Couldn't sleep?" Haruhi wondered. "How come?"

Hikaru's smile returned. "Oh, no reason!"

The boys feet stopped walking towards the girl and crowd, and soon enough, he turned around and walked over to a couch on the other side of the room, where his younger brother surely lay, asleep. Haruhi looked to Kyoya, and then Hunny to see if anyone knew why Kaoru couldn't sleep.

"They won't admit it," Kyoya finally spoke quietly. "They were worried about you, Haruhi."

"Kao-chan worried the most," Hunny explained, hanging onto Haruhi's hand now.

Even Tamaki was serious again, and he wasn't glomping Haruhi anymore. "Those unscrupulous demons do have a heart, I guess."

Upon the silence, Hikaru raised his head from where he sat and stared at them all, wondering why the chaos had ceased. Haruhi stared into his eyes for awhile, then he smiled and averted his eyes back to the sleeping Kaoru.

"Haru-chan!" Hunny whined. "You're gonna pass the exams, right?"

"Of course," Tamaki scoffed. "Of course she will. She's Haruhi!"

"Yes, that makes me feel wonderful," Haruhi teased.

The girl walked past all of them and sat down and began reading her textbooks and notes. No one disturbed her, only let her study. Even the boasterious Tamaki was quiet and letting her be. It was surprising, and every once in awhile, Haruhi would raise her head to make sure that this was actually real. Naturally, she never woke up if it was a dream, so she stopped checking, and she was soon done reading all of her notes and she smiled and stood up, closing her books.

"Done," Haruhi declared.

"Yay!" Hunny cheered. "Haru-chan is gonna stay! Right Takashi?"

"Hai," Mori replied. "Of course."

The girl was soon covered and glomped by a tall blonde man. "Haruhi! Daddy's here for you!"

"I don't need you!" Haruhi shouted in relief as she tried to push Tamaki off her.

Hunny skipped up to her, his plate of cake in hand.

"Haru-chan! Haru-chan! Do you like this kind of cake? Try it! Try it!" Hunny chimed and pranced around Haruhi as she reluctantly tried a piece of the sweet chocolate cake that was dripping with pink frosting. She winced and nodded. "Do you like it? Do you, Haru-chan?"

"It's... a bit sweet," Haruhi admitted, sticking her tongue out slightly. "Speaking of sweet, I don't hear a remark on how sweet I am, like I usually hear. Is Kaoru _STILL _asleep?"

"I never noticed," Tamaki scoffed. "I thought I was dreaming, since those annoying voices weren't chiming in my ear every second."

"Annoying voices? Who're you talking about Tono?" Hikaru's voice cut in sharply. "You couldn't possibly be talking about my lovely little brother. Why, he's an angel, I can't believe you'd even assume that he's annoying. Of course, you could be talking about other voices. In that case, you need to see a therapist."

"I am not crazy!" Tamaki screamed, batting Hikaru's arm away with a book, as the boy had wrapped his arm around Haruhi. "I'm not crazy! I'm not! I'm not!"

"Stop hitting me!" Hikaru screeched back as he started swatting his hands at Tamaki.

Haruhi sighed.

"Yup, this is definetly the Host Club."

That's how the rest of the morning went, Haruhi watching and sometimes getting dragged in mild fantasies, Tamaki making the fantasies, and Hikaru trying to pull Haruhi away from Tamaki. Hunny was eating his sweets, and Mori was watching Hunny eat his sweets, while Kyoya was recording the buisiness reports.

When the warning bell finally rang, the older kids finally went off to their classes. Haruhi was going to start to class, but she remembered the twins.

"Hikaru? Aren't you coming to class?" Haruhi asked, turning around to face the boy hovering over his sleeping twin.

"Yeah, in a moment. I need to wake Kaoru up first," Hikaru replied quietly, and he set his hand on Kaoru's shoulder. "Hey, Kaor-"

"Mmm," Kaoru moaned, taking a deep breath. "Hikaru..."

A blush spread across the elder's face and he removed his hand from his little brother's shoulder.

"Well?" Haruhi asked, slightly irritated.

"I... I think I'll just carry him to class," Hikaru finally decided and carefully picked Kaoru up.

"You know, you two really do make a good couple," A few boys teased as they passed the three in the hallway.

Hikaru didn't reply, he was too busy trying to make sure that he didn't trip. Haruhi frowned at the behavior of the boys. The girls only squealed and walked past, swooning a bit at the sight, but the boys either shook their heads, waved to Hikaru, or said some snotty remark, which could or could not be reffering to the sight they saw. A private institute was supposed to be different, and surely it was. The bullying was on a whole different level. There wasn't any bullying, and if there was, it was hard and harsh. It also seemed that there was no teasing or pestering in the halls or classrooms, minus the twins. The classes were harder, the scholarships were bigger, and the students were more classy.

"I don't know how I'm going to do this," Haruhi sighed as she walked up to the classroom door.

"Don't worry Haruhi," Hikaru reassured. "I hear hot girls always ace exams!"

"That's why you're Hikaru," She teased. "And not Kaoru."

"What's that mean?" Hikaru huffed.

Ignoring him, Haruhi walked into the classroom, and she straightened the tie on her male uniform as she walked in.

"Eeh!" A group of girls squealed as Hikaru walked into the classroom, Kaoru still nestled gently in his arms. "Hikaru-kun!"

Walking over to his desk, Hikaru sat on his chair and stared at Kaoru's face for awhile, before gently shaking him.

"Kaoru," Hikaru whispered. "It's time for class."

"Two more minutes," Kaoru whined as he sighed deeply and rested his cheek against Hikaru's shoulder. "Just two more minutes Hikaru and I'll get up, I promise."

"No, Kaoru, we're in school," Hikaru tried again. "Class is going to start in one minute! C'mon, wake up."

Opening his eyes slightly, Kaoru's dazed eyes stared at Hikaru awhile before smiling.

"Two more minutes?" Kaoru asked again, a sly sarcasm coming into his voice.

"No!" Hikaru hissed. "The teacher will yell at us."

Despite Hikaru's protests, Kaoru rested his head against Hikaru's arm again, and that was that. Hikaru didn't try to make him move again, and Kaoru was no longer asleep, but he pretended to be. For a moment the two completely forgot the exams.

Haruhi hadn't forgotten, and she was reviewing the materials she had at her desk.

"Haruhi-kun," A female spoke up as Haruhi noticed a group of girls had been staring at her for awhile now. "We heard about your dad."

"Oh, you did?" Haruhi asked, slightly annoyed that she was interrupted, but she was trying not to let it show. "It's not a big deal."

"He'll get better," Another said.

"I know he will."

"You'll ace your exams too," Two said at once.

"We know you can do it, Haruhi-kun," They all finally chimed, and then they went back to studying their own notes.

"Sheesh," Haruhi huffed and went back to reviewing her materials for a few seconds until the final bell finally rang.

"Please take your seats class, and we'll take attendance, and review a bit before we start the exams," The teacher announced. Then she walked to her seat and started clicking on some things on her computer, but she finally raised her head. "Where's Hitachiin Kaoru?"

The two boys jumped at the sound of the younger boys name.

"K-kuso," The boys said together.

"Hitachiin Kaoru?" The teacher asked again.

"H-hai," Kaoru asked as he turned his head to look at the teacher.

"This isn't the Host Club, get to your desk!" She hissed.

For a second, Kaoru started to get down, but then he stopped and recoiled, resting his head against Hikaru's chest.

"But I can do things better this way," Kaoru whined.

"Hitachiin Kaoru, please go to your own desk, now!"

Kaoru wrapped his arms around his brother's neck and brought their faces closer together. "I was feeling sick earlier, so Hikaru was going to take me to the nurse's office, but I feel _so much _better like this. Can't I stay like this? I might get sick again, and don't you want me to pass my exams?"

"Kaoru!" Hikaru hissed under his breath.

"We've never messed with a _teacher _before," Kaoru winked.

"Do I need to give you both detention?" The teacher asked, standing up from her desk.

"You're going to give a boy detention for trying to feel better so he doesn't miss his exams? I never knew that was bad," Kaoru whimpered.

Hikaru sighed, "I don't like this."

"Try it," Kaoru whispered. "It's a rush."

"I don't know-"

"It's not boring at all."

With a sigh, Hikaru rubbed his cheek up against Kaoru's and he finally said, "My poor little brother was feeling so sick last night. I told him that we should stay home, but he volunteered to come to school today, it would mean so much if you would let him stay here."

"He can stay here," The teacher huffed. "At his desk!"

Haruhi groaned, "Can we get started with class anytime soon?"

The teacher gasped.

"Fujioka! I never expected to hear that such sarcasm out of you!"

"Way ta go, Haruhi!" Hikaru and Kaoru cheered, but they silenced when the teacher glared at them again.

"Chairman's Office! Now! Hitachiin Twins!" The teacher hissed, pointing to the door.

"The Chairman's office? Isn't that a little extreme?" Kaoru asked nervously, getting up off of Hikaru's lap.

"Take your seat, go into the hall, or go to the Chairman's office," The teacher sighed, rubbing her temples. "Just please, I need to get these exams started."

"Fine."

The youngest twin sat at his desk, ocassionally gazing past Haruhi at his elder brother, blushing when he remembered how warm Hikaru's lap was. After a while though, Kaoru came back to his senses and remembered what kind of case everyone was in.

Haruhi began having trouble with the exams after awhile. They had stepped everything up a notch, but thinking about everyone, she tried her hardest to get everything right. When she skipped a question she wrote the number on a post-it note she had on her desk so that she wouldn't forget them like last time. Occasionally though, Haruhi felt Kaoru's gaze, and she looked at him once or twice, and immediatly he went back to his own exams. Things between the two haven't been quite the same recently. After the twins' fight, Kaoru and Haruhi hadn't quite felt comfortable around eachother.

Too much was going on, and Haruhi was beginning to feel distracted. Finally, taking in a deep breath, she started focusing entirely on her exams, and ignored Kaoru's occasional gazes.

"This is hard," Haruhi whispered under breath. "When did this happen?"

Every once in awhile, Haruhi would gaze up at the teacher. A few times, the teacher noticed and raised her eyebrow at Haruhi. Shaking her head, Haruhi was trying to focus entirely on the tests before her, but for some reason, everything felt like bugging her today. Her dad was in the hospital, and Kaoru had admitted that he loved her. What else was she going to do?

After awhile, Haruhi finally handed her test in, but she took longer than usual, but she had remembered to look at the post-it note and finish the questions. She wasn't sure if you were allowed to have post-it notes in class, but the teacher didn't say anything about it, so she figured it would be okay. Walking out of the classroom after the bell rang, Haruhi couldn't help but having a bad feeling deep in the pit of her stomach, she knew something was wrong.


	6. I Quit

"Failed?" Tamaki screeched as Haruhi walked into the clubroom.

"Yeah," She huffed, tossing her bags onto the couch. "I failed, and I can't take the make-up exams. Your dad said the best he could do was move me to the D class."

"You failed?" Hunny cried as he ran up to Haruhi.

"Failed at getting first place," She corrected him. "I'll still be here."

"We can't be seen around a D-classman," Tamaki sobbed. "What are we going to do?"

Kyoya finally spoke up, a sigh also escaping him. "There's nothing we can do. We hang out around Kasanoda-kun, and he's in the D-class. All we can do is help Haruhi with her grades when she gets back from working. That's all we can do, Tamaki."

"I don't need help with my grades!" Haruhi snapped. "My problem is all the things going around in my head. If it was only dad, I would've been able to pass but-"

"Gomen," Kaoru replied as the two walked in. "Were you all having a private discussion?"

"You!" Tamaki screamed, pointing at the twins. "It's all your fault!"

"Do you always blame us?" The two asked.

"It's usually always your fault, though!"

"You blamed us for everything, Milord. I'm not sure if you even like us anymore," Hikaru fake sobbed.

"Fine, it's your fault then!" Tamaki finally decided. "Kaoru had nothing to do with this then."

Haruhi chuckled nervously.

"I'll be going home early," Kaoru whispered to Hikaru. "I don't feel good."

"Haru-chan!" Hunny sobbed as he tackled Haruhi's leg. "You can't leave! We need you here!"

"I'm just going to be in the D-class, Hunny-sempai," She sighed, and tried to comfort him. "Nothing's going to change."

Hikaru looked at Haruhi and then out the door to where Kaoru dissapeared to.

"Everything's changing," He sighed. "Should I have payed better attention?"

Ruffling his hair, Hikaru left the clubroom.

"Where are you going?" Kyoya asked.

"To help my little brother," Hikaru sighed. "Sorry, I can't make club today."

Before anyone could protest, the twins had completely dissapeared, and there was no way any of them could get them back into this room that day. Shaking his head, Kyoya finally looked at his board and then nodded at Haruhi. "You can go home too, if you'd like. I don't think you're comfortable with facing everyone right now?"

"My debt-" Haruhi started.

"On delay," Kyoya nodded. "Until your father is better. But I will add twenty customers to your total, do you understand me?"

"Understood," Haruhi sighed and whispered to herself, "Not like I expected him to decrease my debt."

"Haruhi!" Tamaki sobbed as he glomped her. "I'm so sorry! Daddy will come visit you every night! Mom can come too if you'd like him to!"

"I don't need your comfort!" Haruhi snapped, pushing him off her. "I just need to work."

* * *

"Where are we going?" The older boy asked the younger one as they walked the dark halls of the high school section.

"To pull some strings," The younger one replied, not looking at his brother, but rather scanning all the doors around him, and started towards the main office.

"What do you mean?"

"We can't let Haruhi get moved to the D class."

"She's still going to be here, though. Isn't that enough for you?"

"No, we need her," The younger hissed.

Finally, the older ran up to his younger brother and grabbed his hand. "Kaoru, she's still with us."

"At club," Kaoru sighed. "It'd be easier on her if she was with us. Besides, she'd be with Kasanoda-kun."

"Ah!" Hikaru gasped, backing away from Kaoru. "You're right! Then he'd seduct her!"

"See? We can't let that happen."

"So what are we doing, Kaoru?"

Kaoru stopped walking and turned to face his brother. "Anything we can."

* * *

"Dad," Tamaki replied as he sat in his father's office. "Isn't there anything we can do to get Haruhi to stay in the A-class?"

"Only if she could make the make-up exams," His father replied. "But Tamaki, no one can watch her while she takes it, and she'll be too busy working to study for it. I'm doing the best I can, but the scholarship has to be for her best grades."

"We'll watch her while she takes it!"

"We?"

"The Host Club!" Tamaki replied dramatically as he stood up.

"Does Kyoya approve of this action?"

"Well, I haven't asked anyone yet," The boys gleam was starting to dim.

"Until all of you agree and can find a teacher to watch as well, I cannot approve of this action. I usually trust Kyoya to handle these matters correctly, but you've all grown close to her."

"Dad! Kyoya will be one hundred percent strict on her! I promise!" Tamaki continued trying to convince.

"Alright, I suppose if Kyoya goes-"

"Thank you!"

_Knock. Knock._

Tamaki and his father turned towards the door.

"Who's here this late?" Tamaki asked.

"I don't know," His father replied. "But I want to go into the next room while I talk to whoever it is."

The King did as he was told, and tried his best to listen to what they were all saying. Not being able to hear anything, Tamaki dared crack the door open a bit.

"-exams," His father voice came in.

"I know... do?" Another familiar voice asked a question. Annoyed at the tiny bits, Tamaki inched closer to the opening of the door and stuck his ear next to the opening.

"My son... watch her..."

Tamaki sheened. Just himself? Watching Haruhi? Could anything be any more heaven sent?

"Hmph, whatever," Another voice huffed. Tamaki finally got it.

"YOU TWO!" Tamaki screamed as he slammed open the door. "What are you two doing here?"

"Same as you," Kaoru hissed. "Trying to find a way to get Haruhi to stay. But I don't think it's fair that-"

"Since when have you cared about what is fair and what's not?" Tamaki hissed back as he stormed closer to the twins. "You shouldn't even think of coming into my father's office this late!"

"I came to him as our Chairman, not your father," Kaoru snapped.

Hikaru seemed to cringe a bit when Kaoru said "I".

"Y-yeah," Hikaru chimed in faintly.

"You two need to go away! You made her fail in the first place!" Tamaki continued to scream at the two.

"We did no such thing, Milord," The two sighed, but Kaoru eventualy took over the conversation again. "Do you think we'd want to get rid of Haruhi?"

Tamaki shook his head. "You're always trying to bug me! Plus, you're unscrupulous! You wanted to make her fail, and then take all the glory of fixing it all up! You're trying to make my daughter look at you guys more than me! You're always trying to take my daughter away from me!"

Kaoru shook his head.

"Maybe she should stay in the D-class if it'll bug Milord," Kaoru hissed. "She can stay with Kasanoda-kun."

Tamaki froze.

"K-Kasanoda?"

"Yup, Haruhi seems to like him a lot as it is," Kaoru continued.

Hikaru and Tamaki's father look from Tamaki to Kaoru and back again. The two couldn't figure out who was winning, or where the sudden aggressiveness came from.

"All. Your. Fault!" Tamaki screamed. "It's always your fault! You hate her! You WANT her to get close to Kasanoda to get her away from me and from all of us! You've been trying to make her fail this whole entire time!"

"How do YOU know what I want?" Kaoru screamed at him. "You're such an idiot! I should've never joined this Club!"

Brushing past Hikaru, Kaoru stormed out of the office, letting the door to the office swing behind him. Tamaki's muscles relaxed.

"W-what just happened?" Tamaki asked quietly.

Choking, Hikaru cried, "Kaoru?"

Looking at Hikaru, Tamaki suddenly realized the seriousness of this new situation.

"Will he be okay?" Tamaki choked a bit.

"Idiot," Hikaru hissed as he ran out of the room.

"Tamaki," The chairman whispered as his son was about to dash out of the room after them. "Don't follow, it'll make it worse."

"But dad-"

"You should go home now."

* * *

"Kaoru!" Hikaru choked as he finally caught up to his younger twin.

"How does he know how I feel?" Kaoru choked.

"Milord's an idiot, let it go."

"Didn't you hear me?"

"What do you mean?"

Kaoru turned on his brother slightly. "**I **quit."

"E-excuse me?" Hikaru asked, not believing his ears.

"You belong in the Club with Haruhi, but I don't belong there," Kaoru continued. "Don't you get it? We're too much trouble together. You'll be better off in the Club without me."

"You what?" Hikaru choked again as Kaoru started to walk away.

**"I quit."**


	7. I Know

**Hitachiin Household **

"It's just a phase," Yuzuha tried to comfort Hikaru.

"Mom! He quit!" Hikaru sobbed. "Kaoru quit!"

The twins' mother didn't know how to deal with the sobbing teenager. Should she tell him it'll be alright? Should she talk to Kaoru? Their mother had to cancel one of her most important meetings to come and take care of Hikaru, because he was so depressed. It was all over Kaoru quitting a club at school.

"It's just a club," She whispered.

Hikaru kicked his legs on his mother's bed, ruffling her blankets. "It's the Host Club! Kaoru and I joined it to open up our world a little! I can't believe he'd do this to me!"

Yuzuha groaned and rubbed her temples.

"Hikaru... you sound just like a baby."

"Well, I'm leaving," Hikaru huffed, getting up off his mother's bed. "I'm gonna call Mori and Hunny and see if one of them will let me stay with them."

"Another fight?" Yuzuha gasped, amazed. "These are more fights in one month than I've seen out of you two in my whole life."

"I don't care," Hikaru sobbed. "He can't do this to me."

* * *

**Fujioka Household **

"I'm home!" Came Ranka's voice as he walked through the door to the apartment.

"Dad!" Haruhi hissed. "You're supposed to be in the hospital!"

"But I can't leave my daughter home all alone, can I?"

"Dad," Haruhi groaned. "Did you check out of the hospital? Or did you just leave?"

"I left!" Ranka announced, laughing. "I'm perfectly-"

As he spoke, Haruhi's dad collapsed a bit on the floor.

"-Fine."

"Dad!"

Seeing her father almost fall over, Haruhi ran to him and pulled him over to the table. Then she went and was going to call the hospital back.

"You don't visit me," Ranka finally spoke up.

"Hmm?" Haruhi asked, her hand recoiling from grabbing the phone.

"You don't visit me," He said again. "It's lonely there, without my daughter. I'm worried about you. I've always needed to work to keep you okay, and here I failed you. Then you don't visit me at the hospital, I needed to get out. I wanted to see you."

Smiling a bit at her father, she started boiling some water on the stove.

"You idiot," She chuckled. "You don't need to feel bad about this. It's okay, I get to stay home, and get a job while you're gone."

"What about your scholarship?"

"I can go back when you're better, and then... then I'm in the D-class," Haruhi tried to explain to cheer her dad up, but finally she had to tell him about how she messed up the exams. "I've had a lot on my mind lately. I couldn't focus entirely on the exams, and I got fourth place. Above Hikaru, but below Kaoru. So I can't take the make-up exams, but at least I can stay at Ouran."

Ranka and Haruhi were quiet for a moment, when the water started to boil. Hearing this, Haruhi began to make some tea for her father.

"Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah," Haruhi replied quietly, setting down a tea cup in front of her father. "Drink up. I'm going to call the hospital in awhile so they can get you back there. You need to get better dad."

Ranka stared at Haruhi, worrying if it was all really okay. He had just wished that he hadn't tripped, that he hadn't gotten hurt.

"So what happened anyway?" Haruhi asked. "I didn't ask anyone what happened to you."

Laughing, Ranka replied, "Did you know that little ladies with strollers hurt?"

"You got hit... by a grandma with a stoller?" Haruhi asked in disbelief.

"Sort of, and then a blind man hit me with a stick," Ranka continued, laughing.

"My dad," Haruhi chuckled. "Is that what really happened?"

"The honest truth!"

"That would explain why you don't look too bad, but then how come your legs aren't that sturdy?"

Ranka sighed and began explaining, "Well, for one, the doctors take everything too seriously. I really wasn't hurt that bad. When the grandma hit me, her stroller ran over my legs, and then the blind man came towards me, and that dog was probably blind too! It stepped right on me, and then his blind friend poked my stomach with his cane."

"How come you didn't see the grandma?" Haruhi asked, not believing his story.

"I was thinking about getting home quickly," Ranka replied quietly. "Because I wanted to make sure you weren't alone, because I heard there was going to be a storm."

"But it missed us."

"Yeah, I found that out when I was in the hospital," He chuckled.

Haruhi smiled and got up, going to her room for a moment to get a blanket for her dad. She knew what had really happened. Ranka had wanted to get home early, so he could surprise Haruhi with something, and he also knew there was supposed to be a storm that afternoon. Then when he wasn't paying attention, a car came by and hit him. Luckily, only his legs were the worse damaged.

"She's a good girl," Ranka replied, looking at the picture of his dead wife. "Always working hard. Sometimes I think she's the parent and that I'm the child. Everything's so hard on her. I guess it'd my fault for getting hurt in the first place. But I don't want to worry her. You'd do the same thing, wouldn't you?"

Walking back into the room, Haruhi wrapped the blanket around her dad, and started walking into the kitchen, this time to really call the hospital.

"I'm not going to be long," Ranka spoke again. "I'll really come home from the hospital soon."

"I know dad," Haruhi sighed.

"I'll be home soon, and things will be back to normal."

"I know."

Ranka took another sip of his tea. "I will come home, and I mean it. You don't need to work, because daddy'll come home for you."

"Dad," Haruhi groaned, looking back at her father. "I know that."

"You're scared," Ranka whispered. "I understand. The only time you remember one of your parents going to the hospital was when..."

"Mom died," Haruhi finished. "I know dad."

"I just want you to know Haruhi, that I won't die. It's just a minor accident."

Picking up the phone and dialing the hospital, Haruhi choked and added her last, "I know."


	8. Hate

**Day 3: Fight **

"Hey! Hikaru!" Tamaki called as he dashed up to Hikaru and Mori. "Where's Kaoru? I need to talk to him."

"I don't know where he is," Hikaru scolded. "I slept over at Mori's last night."

Not bothering on asking why Hikaru wasn't with his twin, Tamaki brushed past the two and into the school.

"Was that Tama-chan?" Hunny asked. Mori nodded at him, and Hunny joined Hikaru and Mori as the two walked into the school, staring at Tamaki's fleeting form as he tried to find the redheaded Kaoru. "Where is Kao-chan anyway? Did you two get into a fight again?"

"Iie," Hikaru replied. "Rather, Kaoru got into a fight with Milord."

"Fight?" Mori asked.

"Yeah, last night he..." Hikaru choked on his words and stood still, dragging behind the cousins.

"He what, Hika-chan?" Hunny worried and the cousins stopped and turned around to look at Hikaru.

"Quit," Hikaru squeaked.

"Quit?" Hunny and Mori asked at the same time.

"Yeah, he quit the Host Club."

Teary eyed, Hunny ran up to Hikaru and glomped him.

"But Hika-chan! I wanna see Kao-chan again soon!" Hunny sobbed.

"Making a scene this early?" Kyoya asked when he came upon the scene.

"Kyo-chan! Did Kao-chan really quit?" Hunny sobbed as he ran up to Kyoya. Unfortunately, the nod Kyoya gave made everyone feel even worse. "You sure? How come we didn't know? Does Tama-chan have any clue?"

Kyoya thought for a moment.

"I calculated the loses, and for awhile, we might get an even bigger income. See, because Hikaru is still with us, the girls will feel sorry for him, and thus they'll come just to see him and to comfort him. It doesn't matter if they're customers or not," Kyoya reported. "Kaoru called me last night. He explained to me that he was really upset about something. I'm not supposed to share the details with you guys, and I value Kaoru's trust."

"Since when?" Hikaru snapped.

"Since you're all like business partners, remember?"

Hikaru was silent for awhile, and then he began to walk away. Worried about him, Hunny and Mori followed him.

To the older twin, the halls echoed, and the voices crowded his thoughts. Not hearing his brother's voice and not feeling his hand made him feel sick, and he found himself wishing and hoping that this was all just a bad dream, and Kaoru would wake Hikaru up soon, and then Hikaru would share this ridiculous tale. Unfortunately, Hikaru wasn't waking up, and no one was dissapearing. Only two people had dissapeared from his "dream" so far. Kaoru and Haruhi. The two people he had held the closest to him for such a long time.

Hearing every shoe hit the smooth floor, and hearing every flucuation in voices, the world began to feel lonely. Hikaru began wondering, if maybe this was the reality, and if his whole life was the real dream. If Kaoru was just a part of his dream, and so was the brown eyed girl. Thinking about it all made him feel faint.

"Don't touch me!"

Hikaru came out of his daze and looked around, and focused on the area that Hunny and Mori had found themselves to look at. Everyone else in the hall area looked over there as well.

"This is ridiculous," Tamaki scolded. "Stop acting like a child. I'm sorry for what I said, alright? Isn't that enough for you?"

The boy he was talking to looked away from him.

"Isn't it?" Tamaki asked quietly. "What do I have to do to make it up to you?"

"You have to leave me alone," The person growled, and Hikaru suddenly recognized the person whom Tamaki was talking to.

"Kaoru..." Hikaru whispered.

"This is ridiculous!" Tamaki shouted at Kaoru as he started to walk away. "Don't quit the Host Club, please!"

"Why? The girls love you enough, you don't need me around anymore."

"That's not why I asked you two to join!"

"Don't bring Hikaru into this!" Kaoru snapped as he turned on his heel. "I made this decision on my own! Hikaru's still in the club."

Tamaki shook his head and walked closer to Kaoru.

"I know you're upset. I was just so upset last night, I didn't mean what I said," Tamaki apologized.

"Well I meant what I said."

"We need you, Kaoru. We all care about you-"

Kaoru sighed and looked Tamaki in the eye. "If **you **cared, then don't you think that you'd apologize every once in awhile? You always blame us for stuff and then you don't apologize for accusing us. Don't you ever stop to think about what you say? Well, of course you don't, you're the King, everyone thinks for you!"

"You're acting like Hikaru!" Tamaki shouted at him. "Stop being so childish!"

"Stop comparing me to other people!" Kaoru growled. "I'm me! Not anyone else!"

"So this is what you're like?" Tamaki asked. "What a shame. I thought you were good kid."

"The truth hurts," Kaoru sighed. "Now... just leave me alone."

* * *

**In Class 2-A **

"I heard you got in a fight with the Hitachiins," A girl replied worridly as she walked up to Tamaki, whom was staring out the window.

"Nah, just the younger," Tamaki whispered.

"Are you okay, Tamaki-kun? Is there anything we can do? Do you want to talk about it?"

Tamaki turned his head lightly and smiled solemnly. "I think I just need to be alone, my princess. Besides, I don't worry you with my problems."

The girl blushed and nodded her head.

"Okay, Tamaki-kun."

Tamaki leaned back against the windowsill, and stared out at the land before the school. A deep sigh escaped him as his best friend sat next to him.

"We don't usually see you so depressed," Kyoya replied quietly. "The girls are awfully worried about you. Don't you think you should say something to them? Use your usual princely charm to calm them down?"

"How am I supposed to calm them down, Kyoya?" Tamaki asked just as quiet. "I'm not calm myself. What am I supposed to say? A lie?"

Not knowing how to respond, Kyoya stared out the window, trying to find exactly what it was that was so interesting to the princely figure. Nothing out there seemed to be that interesting, and Tamaki wasn't talking at all. This was all so unlike him, and even though Kyoya would never admit it, he began to worry about his best friend a bit.

"Stop being so depressed," Kyoya hissed. "It's irritating. Just get up and smile like you always do. At least don't act like this in school."

"He quit, Kyoya," Tamaki remarked. "Because I couldn't hold my tongue. I just can't whenever I'm talking about Haruhi. I was so worried about her, what was going to become of her, and then I suddenly... I just lost my cool. Now I lost Kaoru, I can never talk to him ever again. I know I complain about him all the time, but if I really bugged him that much, then why didn't he say anything about it? I would've listened to him if he'd said anything. He's just been so different lately."

Kyoya smiled at his friend. "Well, well, you do notice what's going on with them."

"He's so sensitive lately."

"Face it," Kyoya sighed. "Kaoru is the more sensitive twin. You can't talk to him like he's Hikaru. Sure, he was rash today, almost like he was Hikaru, and you yelled at him like he was Hikaru, but that type of approach won't work on Kaoru. He's hard to budge, and yelling won't work on him."

"Stupid," Tamaki groaned. "He never cared when I yelled at him before."

"Because you were yelling at the twins. Kaoru can't take it when you're just yelling at him."

"They're seperate and a pair," Tamaki groaned. "I was right, they'll never get boring."

Kyoya smiled and chuckled a bit at his depressed partner.

"You're such a drama king," He teased maliciously.

"Who knew," Tamaki groaned. "That I'd learn to care about those two so much?"

"Who knew you'd learn to care about a commoner as much as you do?"

"Haruhi..." Tamaki whispered.

"All we can do now is get her back," Kyoya replied. "She can calm Kaoru down. Until then, we'll have to use the club as well as we can."

"Club?"

"Yes, the five of us."

Kyoya walked away and Tamaki looked at Kyoya as he walked away, then he looked back out the window at the scenery. He sighed and groaned, trying to find the good in all of this, but he wasn't finding anything.

"Five," Tamaki told himself. "Who knew it'd be such a lonely number?"

* * *

**Lunch**

"This is your chance," Hikaru nagged. "Go apologize to him."

"Apologize?" Kaoru hissed. "You must be out of your mind more than he is. Why should I apologize to him!? He's the one who started this whole damn mess."

"He already said he was sorry though!"

"I don't care."

Wanting to get away from Hikaru, Kaoru went and sat down next to the Black Magic Club, where only one seat was available.

"Uh, Kaoru," Hikaru replied as he looked around, not only being creeped out by the freaks in black robes, but the fact that there were no more seats. "There's no seat here for me."

Huffing, Kaoru pointed over to the Host Club.

Hikaru looked at Kaoru like he was mad.

"It's the club table," Kaoru replied. "Go on, it's where you belong. There's a seat next to Hunny-sempai."

"Kaoru!" Hikaru whined.

"You're disturbing the people here," Kaoru snapped. "Leave."

Shocked and unnerved, Hikaru went and sat next to Hunny. When he looked around, it was true what Kaoru said. From where he sat he could see a seat next to Hunny, but there was one more available seat in Kaoru's range, but it was right next to Tamaki.

"So, that's the plan?" Tamaki asked. Kyoya nodded.

"Yay! I can't wait!" Hunny chimed.

Mori smiled and nodded at Hunny.

"Guys, I'm here," Hikaru whispered in a small voice.

"Oh, I didn't notice," Kyoya replied coldly.

Something strange was going on with Hikaru, he felt insignificant, and he felt like choking there on the spot, having only the Shadow Lord staring at him. Normally, it probably wouldn't have been a problem, but it seemed like Kaoru was mad at him too.

Finally getting some of his courage back he said, "I'm not Kaoru you know. I'm still part of the Club."

"Good point," Tamaki said. "Would you like to move next to me?"

"Next to you?" Hikaru chuckled. "Isn't that the seat you always say 'has to be for Haruhi'?"

Everyone became a bit quiet at the mention of the big eyed girl whom was moved to the D class.

"We have a plan," Hunny whispered as he turned to look at Hikaru. "We're going to get Haru-chan back."

"How?" Hikaru asked sullenly. "We need a teacher."

Kyoya smiled at Hikaru and asked, "Are you really that dumb? This is Tamaki we have here. If he asks enough teachers, one of them is BOUND to help the Chairman's son, and this is me. I have lots of businness partners around, we're bound to find some teacher here at the school who'll want to help us."

Hikaru nodded and thought about it. It did seem like a really good plan. Have all the club go around asking, and they were bound to find some teacher who would have sypathy on them and help Haruhi out. Besides, most of the teachers liked Haruhi anyway, so Hikaru didn't see why it could be a problem.

"What if they're busy?" Hikaru asked without thinking.

"Busy?" Tamaki asked in return.

"What if they're all busy at the time of the make-ups, because they'll have to be grading them all. They won't let her do it afterwards because then she could be called a cheater if she got it all right because they'd think we gave her the test answers," Hikaru mumbled. "We need more than just sympathy of Haruhi to get them to work with us."

"You," Tamaki decided, pointing at Hikaru.

"Me!? What about me?"

"Use Kaoru as an excuse and get lots of sympathy from the teachers. Everyone hates seeing you two fight. Be it staff or students. Just say that we need Haruhi back in the A class because 'he's' the only one who can talk some sense into Kaoru. If Kaoru doesn't get any sense knocked into him, then you two might end up hating eachother for- Hikaru?"

"Forever?!" Hikaru was whispering to himself. "Hate? No way, Kaoru would never hate me? Would he?"

"Hika-chan?" Hunny poked Hikaru's shoulder. "That's what you tell the teachers so they'll feel bad for you and help you."

"It's not true is it?" Hikaru sobbed.

"Who knows," Mori shrugged.

"I don't think Kao-chan could ever hate you, Hika-chan," Hunny tried to comfort. "He cares about you too much."

"You sure?" Hikaru sniffled, wiping away a few tears he'd cried.

"Positive," Hunny chimed as he went back to eating some of his cake.

Sighing and sniffling, Hikaru finally calmed down and nodded his head to agree to the plan that Tamaki and the others had all planned out. He knew the rest of the story, because the Chairman had told Tamaki's plan to him the night before.

For a while, everyone was sharing in friendly conversation, Hunny sharing his cake with Mori and Hikaru, Kyoya was talking about how Hikaru was going to draw in customers while Kaoru was going through his little stage, but Tamaki remained silent. After awhile, he stood up, leaving his plate where it was and he walked off somewhere. Looking around, Hikaru noticed that Kaoru wasn't at his seat with the Black Magic Club anymore, and his tray was gone. He must've been done with lunch already.

"Aww man," Hikaru whined. "I miss him."

Hunny frowned and sighed, wanting to help, but he didn't know the full story on what this fight was exactly about. Hunny knew Kaoru and Tamaki had a fight, but he didn't know why Hikaru was being affected and tortured for it as well.

"Kaoru," Tamaki called as he walked up to Kaoru.

"What?" Kaoru asked, turning around.

"Oh, so you're talking to me now?"

"I guess, I can't just well ignore you for the rest of my life, can I?" Kaoru chuckled. "And... I'm kinda sorry about acting out, usually I keep it all inside. I'm sorry for letting-"

"No, it's alright," Tamaki comforted. "I didn't know that's how you were feeling. I just wanted to ask you to stay mad at Hikaru a little longer."

"You want us to fight?" Kaoru asked, offended.

"Fake fight, like you always do. We need you to do it so we can get a teacher to feel sympathetic towards Hikaru and help us out with the make-up terms."

"Ok," Kaoru answered in a weak voice.

The two stood there for a while in silence, Kaoru staring out the window, and Tamaki staring at Kaoru.

"I-" Tamaki started.

"You won't get her," Kaoru interupted.

"What?" Tamaki asked, shocked. "Get who?"

"You know very well," Kaoru continued, refusing to look at Tamaki. "You won't get her, I won't let you. No matter what, I can't let you have anyone this close to Hikaru."

"Who're you talking about?" Tamaki continued to ask.

"Hate me if you want, but when Hikaru does fall in love with someone, I will get them for him, whether I like that person or not."

Tamaki tried to understand what Kaoru was saying, but because he didn't realize that he loved her, he couldn't quite understand who they were talking about.

"Even if he hates me," Kaoru finally sighed as he turned and walked away.

"Does that mean you'll help us?" Tamaki asked.

Kaoru stopped walking. "You could say that."

"Was that Kaoru?" Kyoya asked as he walked up to Tamaki. "Is he still mad at you?"

"I can't... really tell," Tamaki confessed. "He just gave me this weird speech or lecture. I don't really understand who he was talking about though. Something about it had to do with Hikaru though, but I don't quite get it."

Kyoya smiled and chuckled a bit.

"Do you know?"

"Not really," Kyoya admitted. "But I find it funny how oblivious you are. If I would've heard the speech, I might've known what he was talking about."

Tamaki scratched his head and stood up straight.

"I suppose."

"We should be getting to class," Kyoya finally said as he walked ahead of Tamaki.

"Did I..." Tamaki asked himself. "...really do something wrong?"

* * *

**Class 1-A **

"Hey, Kaoru, what's with you giving me the cold shoulder?" Hikaru asked as he leaned over to Kaoru.

After being ignored for about two minutes, Hikaru grunted and wrote his question down on a post-it note. Finally, Kaoru finally gave a glance to Hikaru's notice and wrote a reply back.

_I guess it's because you won't even sleep in the same room with me is all, _Hikaru read.

"That's not my fault," Hikaru hissed, but realized Kaoru was ignoring him still.

_That wasn't my fault, Kaoru. I was upset with you because you were fighting with Milord, and you can't quit the Host Club. I need you there._

Irritated, Kaoru picked the post-it note up and stuck it on Haruhi's desk.

"Kaoru!" Hikaru hissed. "At least answer me!"

_Leave me alone. Make a routine with Haruhi if you really wanna cling onto someone that bad, _Kaoru finally wrote on the post-it note and looked away from Hikaru entirely. Now Kaoru was doing his homework, and still refusing to talk at all.

"You're so stubborn," Hikaru scolded.

"Only as stubborn as you," Kaoru growled, not turning his head.

Angry and confused, Hikaru stood up and walked up to the teacher.

"What now, Hikaru-san?" The teacher asked annoyed as she turned away from her work. "I gave you all free time, isn't that enough for you?"

"Can I get my desk moved?" Hikaru growled the question. "I can't stand sitting next to Kaoru."

Smiling, the teacher chuckled, "Of course you can get your desk moved. Move all your supplies to where Fujioka-kun used to sit."

"What?" Hikaru hissed.

"It's been decided, now move!"

"Good job!" Hikaru seethed as he sat down next to Kaoru. "Because of you, I have to sit next to you now too."

"Boohoo," Came the reply from the boy who put down his book. "Because of you, I can't read."

"Well I get nightmares, and no way am I gonna ask Mori to help me get back to sleep."

"Why not? Maybe he can crawl into your futon and sleep with you too? Or over at his house do you have a big BED. Like Hunny-sempai," Kaoru hissed, slamming his book shut.

"'Least I don't say your name in my sleep!" Hikaru remarked.

"I don't need someone to sleep with me when I get scared."

"But you just admitted that you get scared."

"Everyone gets scared, stupid."

"Well I don't wrap my arms around you when I sleep like you do."

"I don't sneak into your futon at night, like you do," Kaoru continued.

"I don't watch Chik Fliks!" Hikaru snarled, slamming his hand on his new desk and standing up.

Suddenly, all of the girls eyes intently went on watching the twins. The teacher had gone out of the room to copy some paperwork and to make the change of seats for Hikaru.

"I-I don't watch Chick Fliks," Kaoru replied with a slight blush. He was still sitting at his desk.

"Yeah ya do, and you cry at them too," Hikaru continued, walking closer to Kaoru.

"I can get a date with a girl and you can't!" Kaoru finally came back and he stood up to face Hikaru.

"I have too gone on a date!" Hikaru hissed.

"Only because she agreed to go out with me first," Kaoru chuckled, folding his arms in triumph. "I even got her to go out with me again. I gave her a little kiss too."

"I'm not homo!" Hikaru snarled, grabbing one of Kaoru's arms so he get his arms to unfold, and he wanted to wipe that smug look off his face. "But you are! You're in love with Haruhi!"

Everyone gasped and stayed still, while Kaoru stared shocked at Hikaru.

"W-what?" Kaoru asked, taking a step back.

"You're in love with Haruhi, and you told Haruhi that you were. That's probably what Haruhi was thinking about and that's why 'he' failed the exams! It's all your fault! Milord has every right in the world to think that you were the one who made Haruhi fail!" Hikaru yelled.

"I don't tell your secrets!" Kaoru cried. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone."

Too infuriated to stop yelling at Kaoru, Hikaru continued, "It's true though! Why shouldn't everyone know that you're homo?"

"I didn't know her dad was going to get into an accident!" Kaoru replied. "I just... I don't matter to you at all anymore, do I?"

Hikaru refused to answer and he looked away, finally Kaoru was starting to get to him.

"Well then, I was lying the other night too," Kaoru finally continued. "You don't matter to me either."

"N-nani?"

Kaoru ran out of the room, past the teacher who was walking in with her newly copied stack of papers, and they all fell on the floor. Angry, she stormed into the room and asked, "What happened in here? Did you two get into another fight?"

Hikaru didn't answer, but he shrunk back into his seat. This was it.

"He hates me for real this time," Hikaru sobbed.


	9. I'll Cry For You

** Hitachiin Household **

"Mom?" Kaoru asked as he walked into the kitchen, and found his mother waiting for him. "What are you still doing home?"

"Oh! Kaoru!" His mother chimed, smiling brightly at her younger son. "I just figured I should wait home so that you wouldn't feel lonely!"

"Lonely?" Kaoru growled. "I'm perfectly fine. It's not like I miss Hikaru or anything. We got seperate rooms a few nights ago anyway, it doesn't really matter."

"Hey... Kaoru?" His mom asked as Kaoru was about to walk out of the house without breakfast. "I heard... something interesting."

"Hmm? What is it?" Kaoru asked, turning around.

"People are calling you homosexual," She worried.

Kaoru shivered, scowled, and yelled, "I'm going!"

With a large slam of the front door, Kaoru was gone, and heading off to school. Of course, Kaoru wasn't even sure how he could pull school off with the way he was feeling right now. Everyone would think he was gay, but he wasn't.

"Could it be Haruhi-chan?" His mother wondered as she sat aloud. "That's right, doesn't everyone think she's a boy?"

"Stupid Hikaru," Kaoru hissed as he kicked a can in his way. Tears tugged at his eyes, and one was starting to break loose. "Stupid... idiot... baka!"

Kaoru kicked the can even harder.

_Thunk!_

"Wha...?" Kaoru gasped. "Oh my god! I'm sor-"

"It's okay," The person replied, rubbing their head and turning around to face Kaoru. "It doesn't hurt that bad."

"What're you doing out here, Tono?" Kaoru finally growled. "Are you slinking around, trying to see where Haruhi is this morning so you can attempt to seduce her?"

"Ahh, that's gross," Tamaki hissed. "Why would I try to seduce my own daughter? Now I'm trying to think about why I was out here in the first place, thanks to your little can."

"Tono..." Kaoru whispered.

"What?" Tamaki tried to growl.

_He was waiting for me._

Blushing, Kaoru pushed ahead of Tamaki.

"Kaoru!" Tamaki gasped, trying tot grab his shoulder.

"I can walk," Kaoru hissed as he ran ahead.

"That's running!"

Kaoru stopped at the stoplight ahead of him, gasping for breath, and trying to calm down his beating heart. "Stupid Tono, I can take care of myself."

When Tamaki had almost caught up to Kaoru again, the light for him turned green, and Kaoru dashed across the road, but one car didn't yeild, and it looked like it almost ran over his foot. Now Kaoru stood still, his hair standing up in a few places. Tamaki dashed across the road and pulled Kaoru onto the sidewalk before the light turned red and the other side came at him.

"What were you thinking?" Tamaki shouted at Kaoru.

A few tears strode down Kaoru's cheeks, but he pulled away from Tamaki and started limping along.

"What's wrong? That car didn't actually hit you, right?" He worried.

"Stupid idiots!" Kaoru cursed. "Talking on cellphones while driving, how dumb can these damn commoners get?"

"Kaoru?"

A few more tears fell down Kaoru's face, and he leaned against the wall of a building. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

"Kao-" Tamaki was about to call again.

"You manupulative bastard!" Shouted someone as three men walked up behind Tamaki. "What did you do to yourself!?"

Clenching his teeth, Kaoru walked away from the building, and tried to walk normally to school, despite the screams of pain shooting up his leg and numbing his stomach.

"Don't let him see your face," Kaoru told himself as he continued walking, his teeth so tightly together he thought they would surely shatter. "You'll be okay as long as Hikaru doesn't see your face, just keep going. Keep--- ahh, ahh."

"Sorry Mister!" A little girl apologized as her soccer ball tread up Kaoru's foot.

"It's oookay!" Kaoru cried, trying to stay calm.

The little girl ran over to Kaoru and picked up her ball, then walked past him, and looked at Hikaru in the group behind.

"Sorry I hit your foot mister," She apologized to Hikaru.

"But you didn't-" Hikaru was confused, but then he looked ahead to the slightly limping Kaoru and sighed.

"Does your hair change color in the light and dark?" The little girl asked as she waited for her mommy to stop apologizing to Kaoru about her daughter's misbehavior.

"Yeah," Hikaru lied. "Cool, huh?"

"Yeah!" She giggled and ran off with her mom.

"Baka," Hikaru cursed. "What happened to him?"

"I think a car ran over his foot," Tamaki wondered aloud.

"What!?" Hikaru freaked. "Seriously?"

"I think," Tamaki emphasized.

"Oh, Kaoru," Hikaru cried a bit. "My poor brother."

"Ohh, Kao-chan," Hunny sobbed. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"I think he will be," Mori tried to reassure, but he wasn't even sure himself. "I think Kaoru can handle that."

When they had almost made it to school, they heard a familiar voice, and were all shocked to see who it was.

"Haruhi!?" They all gasped.

"Oh, Hi!" Haruhi greeted as she turned around, dressed in her school uniform. "Dad wanted me to go today and see how things were going. I'm supposed to be here today, pick up some study papers, and then attend classes for the day. I'm supposed to study just in case my dad comes home in time for make-ups. He came home- He's getting a lot better, at least that's what his doctor told me, anyway. I don't really know, can you really trust doctors?"

"Haru-chan talks a lot," Hunny pointed out, but no one could hear him over Tamaki's screams of joy.

"HARUHI!" Tamaki screeched as he ran up and glomped her. "I can't believe it!"

"Sempai!" She hissed. "Get offa me!"

"I knew they couldn't kick you out!" Tamaki sobbed. "I'm sooo happy!"

"Wonderful," Haruhi growled as she finally pushed Tamaki off and walked over to Kaoru. "You hurt your foot? Clumsy."

Kaoru blushed; he wasn't doing a good job at concealing his foot.

"I'm fine," Kaoru lied.

"Baka," Hikaru hissed, scooping Kaoru up in his arms. "Let's get you to the nurse right away."

"H-Hikaru!" Kaoru protested. "You can't just do this to me!"

"Sure I can."

"Let me down!" Kaoru growled.

"You can hate me later, but right now we need to get you better."

Kaoru quieted down at the word "hate".

"Why would I hate you?" Kaoru whispered the question, the tears choking him even more, but not from the pain anymore.

"I made you cry yesterday," Hikaru sighed as he carried him down the hallway. "I'd feel better if you hated me. It was wrong of me to act that way. You were just... getting me so mad."

"Maybe I do hate you," Kaoru growled, struggling a bit in Hikaru's arms.

"Fine," Hikaru hissed. "But hate me once you get home. That foot needs to be looked at, it could be broken."

"Hikaru..." Kaoru sobbed a bit.

"I'm your big brother," Hikaru explained as he put Kaoru down on a bed in the nurse's office. "You do what I tell you to do."

"What I dun wanna?" Kaoru asked, tears escaping as the nurse poked his foot, trying to see the damage. "What... if I don't want to?"

Hikaru couldn't stare at his brother any longer, and he looked away. Kaoru was sobbing because the nurse was touching his foot, and looking at his foot, Hikaru saw it was all black and blue. The nurse shook her head, and Hikaru began to feel uneasy.

"I don't think it needs surgery," The nurse explained. "But he **has **to stay off of it."

"Right," Hikaru nodded his head.

"I'm fine," Kaoru sobbed. "It doesn't hurt at all."

Hikaru began to shake as he watched his little brother, and he began crying himself.

"Don't cry," Hikaru sobbed as he bent down and hugged Kaoru. "I'll... I'll... I'll cry for you."


End file.
